The Most Liminal Horror Before The Backrooms

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]If you're not careful and you no clip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the back rooms where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights and maximum hum buzz, and approximately 600 million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell heard you. This was the original post on 4chan that would spark a horror phenomenon.

[00:00:32]Hundreds of short films, millions of views, and soon to be an A24 movie. The Backrooms at the time was inescapable.

[00:00:40]And while the original premise for the Back Rooms was very simple, nowadays the Back Rooms is split into two very different communities. The first is the fan base that developed on this simple premise to an almost absurd degree, creating hundreds of floors, entities, something reminiscent of the SCP Foundation, straying pretty heavily from the original post. And the other side is the purists, the ones who are terrified of the unknown and the simplicity, the ones who let their imagination run a little wild. And there in lies a problem. I've been looking at the conversations around the Backrooms movie, and some people are very split on their opinions. Half are saying they want something more closely resembling an SCP type film, and half are wishing it was something more atmospheric and simple like the original Post.

[00:01:23]Ultimately, I think it's going to be something between the two. And I'm excited to see what comes from it, but I'm not here to discuss that movie. The problem is that one side of these two extreme points will most likely be disappointed no matter what. So, that's why I'm here. I already talked about one liinal horror film, Messiah of Evil. a traditional, if not wacky, type of horror film filled with action, horror, and of course, liinal spaces. But I wanted to give the other side of the fan base a shot and find something that much more closely resembled the original post. Something simple, eerie, and atmospheric, something that gives you that fear of the unknown, something liinal. And that's what I want to talk about today. I'm Nightmare Movies and today it's time to check into your It's 2004 and welcome to the Austrian Alps. This is Irene, our new receptionist, and we're going to follow her on her tour of this lovely hotel.

[00:02:17]Enjoy your stay.

[00:02:21]The tour starts in the basement where her first duty lies, making sure that the door stays locked. As our tour guide says, the devil never sleeps. Another important note is this button, an alarm Irene can press in case of emergencies and the caretaker will come. And with that, the tour is over. So Irene sits and waits. And then she notices something. This staircase. I wonder where it leads. Back downstairs, Irene continues the tour with Petra. And the next stop is this is the lady of the woods and a picture of her cave. But more about her later. There's something more important to discuss. the reasoning for Irene's hiring, that being that the previous worker, a young woman named Eva, seemed to have just left one day without a trace. And this is where I want to say something quickly. Already, this is a very confusing and quiet horror film.

[00:03:14]There's no introduction to the hotel itself. We just start trapped in the elevator with Irene. And because of that, we don't really get a sense of where we are exactly. The hotel itself is clean and quiet, but we only get small snapshots of locations. the basement, the pool, the dorms for workers. Even though I understand that this is all one location, it feels like every part of it is split almost on purpose just to disorient me. And everyone that works here acts in this, how can I say this blunt way. They don't sugarcoat anything, but at the same time, it feels like they aren't saying everything. And this lifelessness or this stiffness is something that's reflected even in the camera work.

[00:03:56]Locked off shots are all we see. Well, for now because after exploring her room, Irene finds a pair of glasses. She puts them on and the alarm is going off and someone is exploring these empty halls, floating through them, just out of sight. They make their way up the stairs. They don't get a good look at who it is. And beyond the stairs is a hallway leading into a void. Wait, is that Irene?

[00:04:23]Oh, just a dream. Well, a nightmare really. And oh, how I wish that this was the end of it. But the next morning, as Irene is doing her job, these two gentlemen catch her attention, but she can't really hear what they're saying.

[00:04:36]She just barely catches the end of a sentence. Something about questioning the staff, and then they're brought into an office. I wonder what that's about.

[00:04:43]Well, back to work, or should I say after work, Irene is getting some exercise in, swimming, all by herself late at night. But then, oh, back. Okay, back to her room again, I guess. And then to the caretaker's room where Irene hears her praying. And then to the front desk where Irene is all alone. And this is the point where that liinal horror really starts to show its face. Before this, it was subtle.

[00:05:13]The confusing editing and the even more confusing layout of the hotel. But now there's nothing but dimly lit rooms and a pitch black basement leading to this.

[00:05:26]A forest that fades quickly into black and it's almost completely silent. We just sit here wondering what could be out there. Do you want to know? Let's go take a look, shall we? Irene and Petra follow a trail deep into the woods.

[00:05:42]Again, never giving us any real geography to grab onto, but it leads to a new location. one we never see the exterior of a club or a bar. It's never really specified. But what is clear is that Irene has found someone that catches her eye. And the next morning, it seems that Petra did, too. Well, I assume because we never see who she met, but she does tell Irene about it, asking her if she can borrow Irene's necklace for a date. But this isn't just a necklace. Irene says it's a lucky charm.

[00:06:12]Irene is out on a date with that boy she met. And where would you want to go?

[00:06:15]Well, how about to the Lady of the Woods cave, where you can learn all about the wonderful things that happened there, like how a woman was burned at the stake in 1591, or how a group of hikers were exploring around the cave in 1962 and went missing. Truly, this is the perfect place for a date. And they aren't the only ones who think so, as carved into a tree are the names of couples who have been there before, including a couple whose names are Draon and Eva.

[00:06:43]There's something odd going on. And the issue is is that I can't tell what it is. It's like something is going on just out of frame. It's something that I assume Irene can see, but none of us can. But it's not just this sense of something going on. There's definitely something happening like this.

[00:07:02]And speaking of out of frame, while Irene goes swimming, someone else is roaming the halls of this hotel, and they've taken something of hers, her lucky charm. For what purpose though?

[00:07:12]Well, I think they just want to see what happens. So, Irene is being watched.

[00:07:17]That much is apparent at this point. But by who? It's never clear, but at the same time, it's very apparent. I know that's contradictory, but it feels like people are always watching her, talking about her, communicating in a way that she doesn't understand, or sometimes in ways we can only interpret. Like when this man bluntly says, "We're going to stuff that duck, too." And even when she is alone, there's always this presence there with her, staring out of our view, but not out of Irene's. She's always staring directly at something. But what is it? Well, I don't have an answer for a lot of things that happen. Like how once she brings it up to her superiors that her necklace was stolen, it was suddenly and miraculously found in the woods and returned to Irene. But that suffocating feeling never loosens its grip, even when these minor problems are solved. Like here for instance, she's back at the club with her boyfriend when suddenly she gets almost completely surrounded by strange men. They don't do anything to harm her physically. They only invade her space. But it's uncomfortable. They dance in front of her, following her as she moves. And even after this, in her own dreams, she can't escape this feeling of being followed. Following herself up those same stairs, down that endless hallway into the woods. Then when she finally wakes up, this is the final straw for Irene. She needs to leave, which is exactly what she tries to do. Switch shifts with Petra and leave for a few days. But you see, that's going to come with a price.

[00:08:49]The necklace, her lucky charm. And Irene simply wanting to leave makes the deal, handing over her charm to Petra. And on her last night here, we are back to those same liinal spaces we've grown accustomed to. the empty lobby, the endless forest calling to her. She slowly enters in, disappearing, and all we hear is this, and that is Hotel. I'm going to be frank with all of you. The first time I watched this film, I had a mixed reaction. There's so many uncomfortable and eerie shots in this film, but the problem is that I couldn't find anything else to grasp onto. The story moves incredibly slowly, which for some sections works brilliantly and for others makes it feel like this movie will never end. The film is only 72 minutes, so it's not a long watch. But I just couldn't focus. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. I don't think I've ever seen reviews on a movie so split before between high praise and unashamed hatred. And to be honest, I was leaning on the more negative side.

[00:09:51]But then I went to bed and I started to think about it. There was something I wasn't getting with this. So, I sat down and gave it another chance. And what I found was a feeling not too dissimilar to what I felt when I first read about The Backrooms. So, what's really going on here? I'm going to start off by saying this. This is not a film for everyone. It wasn't even a film for me at first. I get the perspective of being absolutely bored to tears by this film.

[00:10:19]But as someone who felt that way, let me at least try and convince you of a different perspective. Firstly, this movie is confusing in every way, and it's meant to be. The director even admits to that in the director's commentary for the film, saying how the film is quote less about facts. And she goes on to talk about creating a specific atmosphere. And boy, does she.

[00:10:40]The reason I decided to talk about this movie along with the original backrooms post is because I think they share a ton of commonalities. Firstly, in the presentation, they both present a familiar space that is somehow slightly alien. In the post, it's easy to see.

[00:10:54]The original poster talks about how there are 6 million square miles of empty rooms. And when you pay close attention to hotel, you'll see that the horror is very subtle because things are just kind of off. For instance, there's all these curtains spread around the hotel. And they aren't just for windows.

[00:11:10]They're used for separating rooms, obscuring them for no real reason other than, I guess, to hide what's inside. We only get pieces, but the actual layout of the hotel is bizarre. There's a basement and a reception area, offices, and dorms. And then there's the pool and the void hallway, and none of these areas seem to connect in any real way.

[00:11:33]Throughout the film, we just teleport around this environment, never fully grounding us there. And then there's the all too creepy forest with only the first few rows of trees illuminated before it falls off into darkness. And it's easy to see why so many people call this the most liinal movie out there.

[00:11:51]Pick just about any interior frame of the hotel, and it fits the definition perfectly. But then there's the horror aspect, and this is where it ties into the back room's post even more than I originally thought. The original post states, "God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby."

[00:12:08]because it sure as hell has heard you.

[00:12:10]And this quote perfectly describes the multiple ambiguous horrors of hotel because there are multiple ways to interpret the horrors of what is happening. Like I said, this movie is extremely subtle, maybe even to its detriment. But let me explain some of the horrors I was able to find. The most obvious one is the witch, the one that we never see, only hinted at with this creepy doll, the cave, and the unnerving story about hikers going missing. And of course, you naturally tie that into the disappearance of Eva. And the scary part is that maybe the hotel and the whole town are in on it, trying to offer Irene up his penance for burning her alive.

[00:12:47]Another sacrifice, just like Eva. The devil never sleeps, remember? So, she is always watching, waiting for Irene to get rid of that lucky charm around her neck. But there's another more grounded way to interpret what's going on. There is a very real investigation going on at this hotel. There are detectives interviewing workers, searching the area, presumably trying to find Eva.

[00:13:07]They aren't looking for a witch. If you remember, in the woods on her first date, Irene sees Eva's name carved into a tree, along with another name, Dragon.

[00:13:16]There's also a couple lines sprinkled throughout that hint towards something less supernatural going on, like when she's told outright, "We're going to stuff that duck, too." or in a moment I didn't mention when a guest asks about his quote unquote order to Petra and they both look at Irene. This is just my guess here because again everything is up for interpretation. But I'm assuming that this hotel is running some sort of trafficking ring abducting women and doing god knows what. Even if it's not that, even if it is that people are simply murdering the new hires, it's still so uncomfortable because you don't know who's involved or even worse if everyone is in on it. Everyone who works here treats Irene in the same strange way. They stare at her, are almost always rude, and they look like they're whispering to each other about her. And this, combined with everything else, is what makes this probably the best liinal horror out there. At least by the backroom's original posts definition.

[00:14:13]Like I said many times, this movie is slow and definitely not your traditional horror film. There's no jump scares, no horror music, no entities, nothing. And I don't blame you if that's not your cup of tea because the first time around it definitely wasn't mine. Horror is the most subjective genre out there. But that being said, I think this is the perfect film for that half of the audience I was talking about earlier.

[00:14:36]The one that is scared by something more intangible. The thing in the woods, the whispers from strangers, the empty halls where all you hear is your own footsteps. And while you're alone, you're still sure that something is there with you. If you're not careful, you'll end up in the Austrian Alps in a hotel where it's nothing but the stink of chlorine from the pool, the madness of white walls, and randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell has heard you.

[00:15:12]And with all that being said, thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the video and I'm Nightmare Movies and I'll see you all next time.